In the fast food sector inter alia meat products like sausages or burgers are prepared for consumption by means of open grill or cooking units and other foodstuffs like for example French fries are prepared for consumption by frying in an upwardly open fryer which frequently contains vegetable oil. By virtue of the preparation method, conventional preparation produces typically fat-bearing and odorous vapors. For operation of fast-food restaurants and snack bars and take-aways the resulting vapors often represent a problem at many locations. The attempt is made by complicated and expensive suction removal and filter installations to reduce the pollution due to the smells and vapors occurring when preparing foodstuffs.
A further point in the preparation of food in the fast-food industry is to be found in the use of fats and oils as temperature-generating substances. Specifically in the preparation of foodstuffs at excessively low temperatures there is not just the danger of eating an excess of calories caused by the fat or oil in the product. In addition, at excessively high temperatures during the cooking operation, unhealthy decomposition products are produced which are ingested in consumption of the foodstuffs. Therefore the grill and cooking appliances used in the fast-food restaurants and snack bars and take-aways as well as the fryers are to be kept at a given almost uniform temperature level. That however involves a high consumption of energy.
In the case of the conventional preparation methods, in order to be able to guarantee optimum quality of the foodstuff to be prepared, there is also a need for the procedure to be continuously monitored or checked by the operating staff.
DE 20 2009 007 012 U1 discloses for example an apparatus for cooking sausages, by means of which preparation of sausages can be effected as required and thus individually. The sausage cooking apparatus has an accommodating device, similar to a toaster, for a sausage, and a heat source associated with the sausage accommodating device and having at least one heating element. The heating element is a heating casing surrounding the sausage accommodating device. A disadvantage is that on the one hand only a few sausages can be simultaneously prepared with such an apparatus and on the other hand each accommodating device has a heating element surrounding only a single sausage. That means that, in comparative terms, a larger amount of energy is required for an individual sausage to be prepared.